This could be the start of something psychedelic. Vancouver-based Champignon Brands Inc. (CSE: SHRM/OTCQB: SHRMF), a medicinal mushroom researcher, made its first acquisition in mid-May. As part of its plan to open five new U.S. healthcare clinics in 2020, the company bought Ketamine Wellness Clinic of Orange County in a cash-and-share deal.
The clinic provides ketamine infusion services and is located on the Mission Hospital campus in Laguna Beach, California. Ketamine therapy is used to induce and maintain anesthesia, but “has emerged as a promising treatment option for many chronic diseases, such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), fibromyalgia and certain pain disorders,” according to its website. The clinic is actively involved in research and complementary treatment protocols, too.
The price is $600,000 in cash and one million shares of Champignon priced on the average trading price of shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Another 500,000 shares may be issued if Ketamine Wellness collects $1.5 million in top-line revenue over the first 18 months following the closing of this deal.
California’s reputation as a haven for spiritual growth and mind-and-body wellness practitioners is well established. A recent intra-state deal saw Adventist Health acquire Blue Zones, a community-based population health management company that employs a systemic and environmental approach to improving the health of entire cities and communities.
Champignon Brands, formerly known as Nature Leaf Wellness Corp., is involved in the cultivation, distribution, and proliferation of medicinal mushrooms and its derivatives in North America. It offers mushroom-based tea products under the Vitality Supertea brand name and wooden tea-box sets with 60 Supertea blends. Not surprisingly, it also sells mugs, shirts, and other accessories, as well as auralite healing stones.
The day before this deal went public, on May 11, the company announced an agreement with Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Eight Capital on a $10 million private placement that is expected to close on or about June 11, 2020.
Also that day, it announced the appointment of a new CEO, Dr. Roger McIntyre, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of Toronto and head of the mood disorders psychopharmacology unit at the University Health Network. Dr. McIntyre’s bona fides continue, as he is the executive director of the Brain and Cognition Discovery Foundation in Toronto, and holds many other advisory positions and titles.
In March, Champignon acquired Quebec-based Novo Formulations, Ltd. to gain its intellectual property on novel delivery systems for ketamine, such as transdermal, intranasal, sublingual, and oral and suppository forms. The price was CD$0.2475 for 12.5 million common shares of Novo, approximately $2.1 million.
